The audiophile-oriented digital music player company Astell And Kern announced a new line of DAP (digital audio players) targeted at the active lifestyle market. The Astell And Kern P1 digital audio player marks the first portable player from the Korean company to keep workouts in mind, along with high end sound.
The new player features a new lower price point, easy-to-grip case and buttons that can be differentiated by touch alone. Specs and more info in the press release below.
“The P1 Digital Audio Player is part of a new series of products launched by Astell&Kern which focus on promoting an active lifestyle, with music as the companion on your journey. With the P1, music isn’t just a background; it’s the force that propels your life forward.
The P1 by Astell and Kern features premium sound playback of a wide variety of music formats, including bit-perfect high-resolution audio up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM and DSD256 and is tuned by the high-resolution audio experts at Astell&Kern. The compact, one-handed design of the P1 allows users to have a lossless music experience while working out at the gym, running, walking around the neighborhood, or commuting. With an octa-core processor, the P1 provides a smooth, fluid user interface with up to 20 hours of continuous music playback.
The P1 features two ESS ES9219Q SABRE DACs in a dual-mono configuration, providing a dedicated DAC chip to the right and left channels. The dual-DAC structure creates a perfectly balanced circuit to deliver vivid sounds that are true to the original. The P1 by Astell&Kern also has a dedicated AMP circuit, based on Astell&Kern’s TERATON ALPHA sound solution. The TERATON ALPHA AMP ensures sound clarity and broad spatial resonance with its design technology. With it, you can catch the faintest sounds of instruments you could not hear before.
Dual-band Wi-Fi and Google Play Store support allow users to download and install the most popular music streaming apps and easily stream their favorite music. With 64GB of internal memory and support for microSD cards up to 1.5TB, you have plenty of space to store music you own or download tracks from streaming services to listen to in offline mode.
USB DAC mode allows the P1 to be used as premium DAC when connected to a Mac or Windows computer. A variety of options are available in USB DAC mode including display of sample rate information for music currently playing, the ability to set DAC filters to further customize your sound and a battery mode to manage battery efficiency while connected.
Users can create their perfect sound through the use of advanced EQ and DAC filter options. The parametric equalizer options in the P1 separates frequency ranges into 20 bands, and Gain is adjustable by 0.01dB increments for precise and accurate control. Users can also control the Q value to set the precise frequency range they like. Seven DAC filter options allow listeners to further customize the sound profile.
Additional features of the P1 by Astell&Kern include a 4.1” HD touchscreen, Bluetooth 5.3 with support for 24-bit wireless playback using LDAC or aptX HD, PD 3.0 fast charging, full MQA decoding, Crossfeed and Roon Ready support.
While superior music playback is the ultimate goal of the P1, design and ease of use also play an important part in the player. A simple and solid user interface (UI) consists of triangles, circles, and squares. These basic elements are placed harmoniously throughout its UI, creating a beautiful design with a solid style. The simple and intuitive user interface provides a familiar and friendly experience that even first-time DAP users can easily control.
The body design uses a combination of aluminum and polycarbonate to create a smooth curve for a comfortable grip. The easy-to-grip aluminum body and powerful audio performance module parts are divided into blocks to maximize contrast. The buttons on either side of the player are shaped so that users can tell the difference between each button by touch alone, allowing easy control of the P1 while in a pocket or bag. Three keys (play/pause, next, and previous) are combined to allow users to easily control the device while focusing on the display.
Preloaded into internal memory are three sample tracks from NativeDSD that showcase native DSD playback on the P1. Also included in the box is a coupon to purchase additional music from NativeDSD at a discount.
The P1 by Astell and Kern is available now for $430 at Amazon.com.”